Core content: the exchange and integration of music
Main forms: "New Sound Twenty-Eight Solutions", "Broken Chen Music", "Neon Dress Feather Song"
China's musical culture has a long history, is broad and profound, and has widely influenced neighboring countries and regions in history. The Chinese nation is still a nation that is good at learning, and has absorbed a large number of foreign musical elements in the process of cultural exchanges and made them have Chinese characteristics.
Musical exchanges in China began at a very early age. In the pre-Qin classics, there is a mythological work called "The Biography of Mu Tianzi", which tells the story of King Mu of Zhou leading a large number of people to march to the West Asian region. It is recorded that "the Son of Heaven rested on the Xuan Pond for three days, played a wide range of music, and ended in three days." "The Xuanchi Pond here is the Black Lake near the Caspian Sea today. According to records, the instruments used at that time were the piano, the bell, the drum, the pipe, the temple, etc., and the scene was very spectacular. In addition, King Mu of Zhou also played Cantonese music many times in Luoshui and other places.
The story of King Mu of Zhou's western tour can also be found in another pre-Qin classic, Liezi Tangwen, which records that King Mu of Zhou brought back an artist named Yanshi when he returned to China. Yan Shi is good at puppet play. He makes puppets that come to life and can perform dances and other shows. What is even more wonderful is that when the puppet winked at the concubine of King Mu of Zhou, King Mu of Zhou actually believed it to be true and wanted to kill Yan Shi in anger. It can be seen that the level of puppet production at that time was high.
In the Han Dynasty, with the opening of the Silk Road, music exchanges between China and foreign countries became more and more frequent. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Zhang Qian was ordered to go to the Western Regions and brought back the Western Regions music "Mo Ke Tu Le", which was later adapted by the court musician Li Yannian into "New Sound Twenty-Eight Solutions", which was used as a military song of the honor guard - Horizontal Blowing.
An important musical exchange event of this period was also the long-necked disc lute that spread far to the west. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu were still very powerful, so the Han Dynasty adopted a policy of peace with other countries in the Western Regions. Princess Xiaojun and Princess Jieyou successively married Wusun Guo. In order to relieve the princess's homesickness, she brought a large number of musical instruments when she was married, including a long-necked disc lute. It is also known as Han Pipa, Ruan, Nguyen Ham, and is different from the pipa used today. Today's pipa is a curved-necked pipa, which was introduced from India around the 4th century AD and is also the result of sino-foreign musical exchanges.
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, a large number of Western Hu music was introduced to the Central Plains, and merged with the music of the Central Plains, eventually achieving the glory of Yan Music. Yan le, also known as banquet music, is a song and dance music for entertainment during banquets. Shen Kuo, a Song dynasty, said in the Mengxi Pen Talk: "The music of the first king is Yale, the new voice of the previous life is Qingle, and the Hehubu is Yanle." "During the Sui and Tang dynasties, Yanle was divided into seven musics, nine musics and ten musics. The ten music pieces include "Yan Le", "Qing Shang", "Xi Liang Le", "Tianzhu Le", "Gao Li Le", "Gui Zi Le", "An Guo Le", "Shu Le Le", "Kang Guo Le", and "Gao Chang Le". Qing Shang Le is traditional Chinese music, Yan Le is a fusion of Chinese and foreign music, Goryeo music comes from Korea, and the rest are Western music that was successively introduced to Middle-earth during this period. Among them, Tianzhu Music was the earliest Western Music Club introduced to the Central Plains. Tianzhu is what is now India. Guizile came from the Guizi country, which is now the Kuqa area of Xinjiang. Guizi music is the type of Hu music that has the greatest influence on the music of the Central Plains, especially drum music. Xiliang music is a kind of music in northwest China that combines the characteristics of Guizi music and Han music. Shule came from the area of Kashgar and Shule in present-day Xinjiang, China, and AnGuole came from the Bukhara area of present-day Uzbekistan. Gao Changle came from the Turpan region of Xinjiang, China, and Kang Guole came from the Samarkand area of present-day Uzbekistan.
During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Yan Le changed to a sit-up trick and a standing part trick according to the performance method. No longer named and classified by place names, Chinese and foreign instruments are often mixed. This marked that Central Plains music and foreign music had reached a new fusion during this period.
Song and dance is the highest achievement of Tang Dynasty Yan music, and the representative works "Broken Array Music" and "Neon Dress Feather Song" are important achievements of Chinese and foreign music exchanges. "Broken Array Music" mainly shows the brilliant martial arts of Li Shimin, the King of Qin. The music is based on Han Qingle and absorbs Guizi music. During the performance, the drums sounded for hundreds of miles, and the valley was turbulent, and the scene was very spectacular. "Broken Array Music" is very famous, even thousands of miles away in India.
"Neon Dress Feather Song" is the most famous song and dance song and dance song in the Tang Dynasty, and there are many opinions on its origin. It is more plausible that the "Neon Dress Feather Song" was composed by Tang Xuanzong absorbing the Indian "Brahman Song" donated by Yang Jingshu, the governor of The Western Liang. However, in terms of the structure of song and dance, it follows the three-part style of the Central Plains tradition of Xianghe Daqu and QingShang Daqu, which is divided into three parts: scattered order, middle order, and broken. Therefore, "Neon Dress Feather Song" is the crystallization of the fusion of Chinese and foreign music.
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, due to the prosperity of the country and the prosperity of culture, foreign countries sent emissaries to study. Among Japan's "Envoys to the Tang Dynasty" were "music chiefs" and "voice students" who specialized in studying Chinese music. Among these international students, the more famous figure is Yoshibe Makoto. He stayed in China for 19 years and returned to China with a large number of classics, including the famous "Leshu Essentials".
The Korean Peninsula is also a region with frequent exchanges with China. The Korean Peninsula was once divided into three states, Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla. The Goryeo music in the Tang Dynasty Yanle is mainly from Goguryeo and occupies an important position in the ten musics. At the same time, Chinese instruments such as kites were introduced to Goguryeo, and there were also Xuanqin, which was transformed from the Chinese guqin. Silla and Baekje also had musical exchanges with China.
In 1908, dunhuang Thousand Buddha Cave discovered the Tang Dynasty hymn "Great Qin Jingjiao Sanwei Mengduzan". Great Qin is the ancient Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire, and Jingjiao is Christianity. This shows that during the Tang Dynasty, the exchange of Chinese and European music had already begun.
During the reign of Kublai Khan, China and the Holy See formally established contact. After that, Christianity began to build churches in China and organize children's choirs. It is said that the Great Khans and officials of the Yuan Dynasty were very fond of listening to their singing.
In the early years of the Yuan Dynasty, the Italian merchant Marco Polo came to China with his father and uncle and was received and treated with courtesy by Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan Dynasty. They held official positions in China for 17 years, and did not return home until the Yuan Dynasty princess married the Ilkhanate (Iran and other places). The famous "Travels of Marco Polo" records what he saw and heard in China, which caused great repercussions in Europe. In the travelogue, some of them are about Chinese music, which plays an important role in Europe's understanding of Chinese music.
In the late Ming Dynasty, the Italian missionary Matteo Ricci came to China, and he adopted a missionary strategy of learning Chinese culture, befriending Chinese officials, and respecting Chinese customs, which was very successful. He once presented the ancient piano to the court and wrote the lyrics "Xiqin Quyi" for the piano music. Matteo Ricci also wrote a "Notes on Matteo Ricci China", which for the first time introduced Chinese music to the West in a more systematic way.
During the Kangxi Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, the Portuguese missionary Xu Ri came to China to serve as a music teacher for the Kangxi Emperor, teaching Western music. He is the author of the Western music theory work "The Law of Lulu". After his death, the Italian missionary Drigerio wrote the Continuation of the Vinaya. These two works enabled the first systematic and complete introduction of European music theory knowledge to China.
Modern times is another peak period of Sino-foreign music exchanges after the Sui and Tang Dynasties, which began with xuetang music and eventually contributed to the modernization of Chinese music.